An EU Door Opened for Canada — as an 'Associate Member'

The president of the European Commission has proposed 'opening the door' for Canada to become an associate member of the European Union, BBC Business reports. Note the verb: this is an offer of a door, not a membership. Associate status for a country on another continent is an unusual thing to dangle, and what it would actually deliver — market access, defence coordination, a diplomatic signal — is the part that would have to be negotiated rather than announced.